Accident on Russian submarine meant for India kills 20

A grab from a Russian channel shows the nuclear submarine on which 20 people were killed in an accident. (AFP)

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NEW DELHI: India's already-delayed project to lease a nuclear-powered submarine for a 10-year period from Russia, under a secret deal signed in January 2004 for an initial $650 million, seems to have taken a further hit. ( Watch )

The new Russian Akula-II class attack submarine called 'K-152 Nerpa', which met with an accident during sea trials in the Sea of Japan off Vladivostok on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring another 21, is apparently the same vessel which was to be transferred to India in July-August 2009, sources said.

"But no official confirmation from Russia has reached here till now. Yes, Indian sailors have been training in Russia, in batches, for nuclear submarine operations but none of them were on board this one," said a source.

While reports held that Nerpa's nuclear reactor was not damaged and there was no radiation leakage during the accident, which occurred due to "unsanctioned activation" of fire-fighting systems, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident.

The Russian sailors and workers from Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard who died were apparently in the sections near the submarine's bow, where the fire-extinguishing systems malfunctioned, and were suffocated by fumes from Freon and other coolants.

The injured, with different degrees of poisoning, were evacuated to Russian Pacific Fleet hospital at Vladivostok for treatment, even as the 8,140-tonne Nerpa with 165 other personnel later limped its way back to its operating base in the Primorye region. This is the worst submarine accident in Russia since the Kursk disaster of August 2000. All 118 sailors on board nuclear submarine Kursk had died a slow death after being stuck in the vessel, crippled after a torpedo exploded, at the bottom of the Barents Sea.

The sea trials of Nerpa, christened INS Chakra by India, had been launched only last month. Though its construction at Amur Shipyard had begun way back in 1991, it was halted midway after Russia was hit by a financial crisis.

It was only after India pumped in money that Nerpa's construction had resumed, with the understanding that India would get the submarine on a 10-year lease. Interestingly, in January 2004, India had also signed the $1.5billion package deal with Russia for refit of decommissioned aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and 16 MiG-29K fighters.

But with the package deal now being renegotiated, India might well have to pay another $2billion to get Gorshkov by 2012, with some indications that a part of huge cost escalation could be linked to Russia demanding more for Nerpa over the initial $650million.

The delivery schedule of the nuclear-powered submarine from Russia has already been revised a couple of times due to technical hitches. Now, after the accident, it looks that even the commissioning date set for August 15 next year might not be possible.

The acquisition of nuclear submarines is crucial for India to fulfill its long-standing quest to have a viable nuclear weapon triad -- the capability to fire nukes from the air, land and sea.

Nuclear-powered submarines armed with nuclear-tipped missiles are, after all, considered the most lethal, survivable and effective platform for launching nuclear strikes, especially for a country like India which has a "no first-use" doctrine.

That submarine, too, had been rechristened INS Chakra. The US then had strongly opposed any lease extension, and the expertise gained was steadily lost since India did not operate any other nuclear submarine thereafter.

The Navy will primarily use Nerpa, which will not come equipped with long-range strategic missiles due to international treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regime, to train its personnel to handle the indigenous ATVs (advanced technology vessels).

The first of the three indigenous nuclear submarines being constructed under the hush-hush ATV programme at Visakhapatnam is also slated to begin sea-trials by early-2009.

Though India only has 16 conventional diesel-electric submarines at present, with six Scorpenes to be delivered between 2012 and 2017, the objective is to operate at least three SSBNs (nuclear submarines armed with long-range strategic missiles) by 2015.

They will constitute a crucial component of the "minimum credible deterrent" against China, which has 57 attack submarines, including a dozen of them nuclear ones, with new Shang-class (Type-093) nuclear-powered attack submarines on the way.

China, of course, is also developing the new submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missile JL-2, with a range of 8,000-km, to arm its Jin-class submarines, which even has the US worried.